, Description:FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the car seat back pad. More particularly, the present invention relates to a knee protection featured on seat back pad in the car seat for comfort & safety of occupants.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The standard car seat is designed to support thighs, the buttocks, lower and upper back, and head of the occupant. Referring to Fig. 1, the front driver and passenger seats of most vehicles have three main parts: the seat back (20), seat cushion (10), and the head-restraint (30).
The seat frame (100) includes said seat back (20) and the said seat cushion (10).
Referring to Fig. 2, said seat back (20) comprises of an upper metallic frame (40) and a lower metallic frame (50) along with some more structural members.
To form a completed vehicle seat, said back frame (20) and said seat cushion (20) are covered with polyurethane pad referred as Pad & seat upholstery which is basically seat trim cover.
The padding on said back frame (20) is known as a back pad (70).
Referring to Fig. 3(a), said back pad (70) comprises of a front portion (80) and a rear portion (90). While sitting, the knee of the occupant (60) in a car has a tendency to touch said back portion (90)of said back pad (70) or cushion (10)
In all existing designs, there comes only seat upholstery (fabric/leather) in between said knee (65) of said occupant (60) and said lower metallic frame (50) of said seat back (20).
When the knee (65) of said rear occupant (60) comes in contact of said back portion (90) of seat back (20) frame, the occupant experiences hard & annoying feel. Seat upholstery being flexible doesn’t restrict penetration of occupant knee thereby causing indirect contact of occupant knee with the said lower metallic frame (50).
This hard feel is prevalent where vehicle layout has low tandem distance which means lesser knee-room thereby generating discomfort causing severe knee pain during sudden breaking or jerk situations. Also, if said occupant (60) is sitting for a longer period of time in above said condition, said lower metallic frame (50) of said seat back (20) frame may cause injury to the knee of the occupant.
There have been several innovations in this field wherein separate buffering member has been attached to the back pad of the car seat.
Conventionally, countermeasures have been taken such as a separate protective member made of a felt material or the like is attached to the back pad by affixing, or another protective member which is made of a felt material or the like is attached to the seat cover either by stitching on pasting.
JP2004124317A discloses a vehicle seat wherein a second buffer member is positioning so that its upper end may cover the seatback lower reinforcement, while positioning so that the lower end may cover the lower end of the seatback frame. In this Embodiment, the seatback lower reinforcement is arranged at the altitude advantage which substantially corresponds to the upper end (directly under [knee]) of a backseat passenger’s leg part. When the rear passenger’s leg part (mainly knee lower part) displaces towards the seat, it touches to the first buffer member or the second buffer member, without touching directly on the seatback frame.
JP03407008B2 discloses a back pad structure in front car seat wherein a C-ring suspends the seat cover appropriately along with an S-shaped spring. Also a protector is insert molded and foamed with the back pad to give soft feel to the occupant’s knee.
However, with the conventional structure of the back pad, although the safety against the occupant can be secured, since components such as the protective equipment separately added. The number of parts has increased, which inevitably leads to an increase in cost. Also, since these are additional materials which are either pasted to the seat cover or attached to the back pad, it overall changes the shape of the back pad. Also there is a big risk that such additional materials may get apart gradually after prolonged usage of vehicle by the customer.
Hence there is a need of a solution which allows the occupant of the rear seat to sit comfortably without hurting his/her knee while keeping the overall cost low and also not disturbing the shape of the back pad and keeping it straight.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
1) It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a knee protector in the back pad for the car seat to reduce discomfort to rear seat occupant.
2) Another object of the present invention is to provide a knee protector in the back pad for the car seat without adding new element to the existing car seat.
3) Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a knee protector in the back pad for the car seat without affecting the overall shape of the seat.
4) Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a knee protector in the back pad for the car seat by optimizing the cost of the car seat & thereby the vehicle.
5) Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a knee protector which supports ease in manufacturing wherein no extra element is required to be affixed through insert moulding.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The regular car seat is designed to support thighs, the buttocks, lower and upper back, and head of the occupant. The front driver and passenger seats of most vehicles have three main parts: the seat back, seat cushion, and the head-restraint.The seat back which comprises of a back pad is provided to give cushioning against the back frame which comprises of metal. Several tries have been made to overcome the problem of knee touching the back frame however all the methods require pasting or stitching or adding extra material to the back pad which results in extra cost and is less durable. The present invention discloses a knee protector which is an integral part of the back pad to provide comfort to the knee of occupant of rear seat. The knee protector is carved out in the existing back pad in such a way that the outmost part of said knee protector is inside or in line with the rest of the back pad so that overall seat shape does not get affected. The shape of the knee protector may also include other geometric shapes & not limited to the shape (105) as shown in Fig.4 provided it covers the structure all around when pushed by the occupant in the specific region.
BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages, of the present invention can be fully appreciated by reference to the following detailed description. These features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings, wherein:
Fig. 1: Existing car seat frame
Fig. 2: Front view of the car seat frame
Fig. 3a: Existing back pad with the occupant’s knee
Fig. 3b: Close up view of existing back pad with the occupant’s knee
Fig. 4: Back pad with knee protector according to the present invention
Fig. 5a: Back pad with knee protector according to the present invention with the occupant’s knee.
Fig. 5b: Close up view of back pad with knee protector according to the present invention with the occupant’s knee.
DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to an embodiment as shown in the drawing.
The present invention provides a new back pad with an integrated knee protector for the seat back of a car front seat to provide cushioning, safety and comfort to the rear seat occupant’s knee.
Ref. to Fig. 4, a new back pad (110) with an integrated knee protector (105) is disclosed. Said back pad (110) comprises of a front portion (80), a back portion (90) and said integrated knee protector (105).
Referring to Fig. 5a, said back pad (110) with said integrated knee protector (105) is positioned accordingly such that said knee protector (105) is placed above said lower metallic frame (50). Said knee protector (105) is shaped in a lip shaped structure however it is not limited to that. The position and shape of the knee protector can be adjusted according to the position and shape of the metallic frame (50). Said knee protector (105) is slightly curved in the centre and angling downwards towards the floor of the car.
The overall length (X) of said knee protector (105) is such that it does not cross the extreme end line (L-L’) of said back portion (90) of said back pad (110).
Referring to Fig. 5b, when said knee (65) of said rear occupant (60) comes in contact of said knee protector (105), due to that impact, it exerts downward pressure on said knee protector (105) which in turn further shapes down such that it covers said metallic frame (50) completely and keeps said knee (65) of said rear occupant (60) safe and unhurt.
It should be noted that the description and figures merely illustrate the principles of the present subject matter. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present subject matter. It should also be appreciated by those skilled in the art that by devising various assembly that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present subject matter and are included within its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the present subject matter and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the present subject matter, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures.
These and other advantages of the present subject matter would be described in greater detail with reference to the following figures. It should be noted that the description merely illustrates the principles of the present subject matter. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described herein, embody the principles of the present subject matter and are included within its scope.
It will be further appreciated that functions or structures of a plurality of components or steps may be combined into a single component or step, or the functions or structures of one-step or component may be split among plural steps or components. The present invention contemplates all of these combinations. Unless stated otherwise, dimensions and geometries of the various structures depicted herein are not intended to be restrictive of the invention, and other dimensions or geometries are possible. In addition, while a feature of the present invention may have been described in the context of only one of the illustrated embodiments, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of other embodiments, for any given application. It will also be appreciated from the above that the fabrication of the unique structures herein and the operation thereof also constitute methods in accordance with the present invention. The present invention also encompasses intermediate and end products resulting from the practice of the methods herein. The use of “comprising” or “including” also contemplates embodiments that “consist essentially of” or “consist of” the recited feature.
Although embodiments for the present subject matter have been described in language specific to structural features, it is to be understood that the present subject matter is not necessarily limited to the specific features described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as embodiments for the present subject matter. Numerous modifications and adaptations of the system/component of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and thus it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and adaptations which fall within the scope of the present subject matter.

Claims:WE CLAIM:
1. A new back pad (110) with an integrated knee protector (105), to protect rear seat occupant’s knee, comprising :
a front portion (80) and
a back portion (90) integrated with said knee protector (105) to protect rear seat occupant’s knee.
2. The back pad as claimed in claim 1, wherein said knee protector (105) is slightly curved in the centre and angling downwards towards the floor of the car.

3. The back pad as claimed in claim 1, wherein said length (X) of said knee protector (105) does not cross the extreme end line (L-L’) of said back portion (90) of said back pad (110).

4. The back pad as claimed in claim 1, wherein said knee protector (105) shapes downwards, when pressure from occupant’s knee is exerted, towards the floor of the car such that it covers said lower metallic frame (50).

5. The back pad as claimed in claim 1, wherein said knee protector (105) is positioned accordingly such that said knee protector (105) is placed above said lower metallic frame (50).